Alfedena

Alfedena sits at 914 meters at the head of the upper Sangro valley, inside the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, below the Meta and Monte Greco massifs. The Samnites founded it as Aufidena on two hills above the river, the capital of the Caraceni tribe; the necropolis in the saddle between the two hills holds over 15,000 inhumation tombs from the seventh to third centuries BC, one of the largest Italic burial complexes ever excavated. Rome conquered the place in 298 BC during the Third Samnite War.

The medieval village grew on a third hill and survived earthquakes, the Gustav Line winter, and the slow depopulation that has taken its population down to 944. The Lago della Montagna Spaccata at 1,066 meters above the village, dammed after the war for hydroelectric power, is the modern landmark. Castel di Sangro is twelve kilometers north, Pescara eighty-five.